I decided to re-read Steppenwolf in English after several years have passed since I last read it (in another language). So far, I learned about these translations:
(1929) Translated by Basil Creighton
(1963 or 1969) Translated by Basil Creighton; Revised by Joseph Mileck and Borst Frenz - See below on the changes made.
A NOTE ON THE TRANSLATION
This is the first revised edition of Baal Creighton's translation of 1929. In the revision we were intent upon a more exact and more readily understood rendition, British spellings and idioms have been Americanized, Germanisms removed, awkward sentences improved, and misleading translations corrected.
Joseph Mileck
Borst Frenz
(2010) Thomas Wayne
(2012) David Horrocks
I tired to find information on comparison of the two latest translations, but the search yielded only one or two opinion comments (i.e., this and maybe one more that I cannot find now). So far, I had a quick look at these two translations. The biggest difference that I noticed immediately is that Horrocks' translation indeed uses more "spoken" language and seems easier to read. However, I do not know which of these two translations is closer to the original.
Wayne's grammar sometimes perplexes me in the sense that I did not know that some of those constructions would even be possible (likely due to my English being at C1-C2, below native level). For example, the very first sentence uses "who" where I would be sure that "whom" should be used:
This book contains the papers left to us of that man who, with an expression he himself used more than once, we have termed the "Steppenwolf".
Another example, the first sentence in the "Word from the Translator", seems to miss a comma:
Hermann Hesse's Steppenwolf was first published a century ago, but the issues it raises are equally important today and remains a favorite of adults young and old who are struggling to find meaning in our increasingly prescriptive life.
Is this grammar really alright? It would be great to get a confirmation from native speakers.
As a side-note, I do not understand why Horrocks decided that it is a good idea to translate Hermine as "Hermione". If anyone can explain this, please do...
Overall, it would be great to hear more opinions on English translations of Steppenwolf.
Update: I talked off-reddit about this grammar questions with a person native in US-English. Below are the main points.
"Who" is sometimes chosen for stylistics, not for correctness. "Who" makes him feel important, "whom" highlights that we're talking about him. The "who" thus feels all the more like an attempt to capture the feeling of the text, which makes grammar less important doubly since it's literature and another language.
The missed comma feels not so different than the missed Oxford comma. Some claim it's not required even though it offers beautiful clarity. The lack of comma is jarring but technically allowed even though I think it absolutely shouldn't be, as it's confusing.
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I believe you’d be hard pressed to find a native English speaking writer who’d put a comma there. I say that as a strong adherent to the Oxford comma. The problem I have is with, “the issues it raises…remains.” I believe the author is referring back to the book in the singular, but by not including the pronoun “it” again, my initial assumption was that he was talking about the “issues.” In that case the verb should stay in the infinitive. So, yeah, it seems fairly clunky and I don’t know if I’d trust a translator who’d make simple stylistic/grammatical errors like that. As to Hermione for Hermine; yuck, right? The review you linked to was right to point that out. I can understand updating colloquialisms to something more modern, but /character names/? It’s highly dubious if you ask me. Thanks for posting this. I was looking to buy a new copy but I always want to make sure I find the best translation. It looks like I’m going with Wayne.
I think I read it in Harrocks. I only go that way because I remember her name as Hermione, so it must have been, right?
I read Steppenwolf in English and it is one of my all time favourite books.
I read it in the 90s so must have been Creighton, will buy a new copy and reread during the lockdown to compare.
I hope they haven't over modernised it
I don't find it too odd that he changed hermine to Hermione - the German translation of Harry potter did the same in reverse! Also it is much more of importance that the play on words is delivered in the translation since hermine is the female form of Hermann and neither the name Hermann nor hermine are really common in English, so Hermione feels more appropriate Also they in narcissus and Goldmund they choose to change Narziss to narcissus - but they didn't change Goldmund to goldmouth which would be the literal translation.i think they just want the names to feel authentic and not to foreign
That would be only true if you replaced "the man who" with "the man with whom" thus it would only be whom with the added "with" preceeding it. Technically correct, if not awkward.
I’m a literary translator and avid reader who believes that “literal” translation of artistic compositions too frequently results in a mangling of the author’s intent which is not just a cascade of words but an emotive transliteration. In that context, I found the translation of Hermann Hesse’s Steppenwolf by Basil Creighton awful, perhaps trying too hard to reflect the original German rather than the meaning Hesse sought to attain and the emotional reaction he sought to elicit, although, to be fair, I read the Picador edition evidently revised by Joseph Mileck and Borst Frenz. In any case, it’s awkward and hard to follow which makes the triumph of the novel all the more amazing.